Chapter 3
OOOOOOO Dragonball Multiverse Chapter Three The Big Stick OOOOOOO Though they had friends in the universes of 12 and 10, the other 15 balconies belonged to some of Universe 18's largest foes. Pan, Bra, Uub, and Videl knew to stay away from these places especially because of the grotesque features and malevolence of those competitors alone. Goten was the first one to notice a group that wasn't like that at all: the newly-arriving Universe 19. It was a group of just under ten people with some fighters lodged behind the bigger, heavier members. It was a network of armor and weapons, something that they didn't expect to see in a fighting tournament which made the team bizarrely unique. These devices looked more scientific than ordinary trinkets, though there were boots and helmets and bangles, and some of them had sidearm holsters and rifle-like blasters strapped to their backs. One of these techno-warriors even carried a massive, missile rod-like weapon on his back and strapped on his back, but that was still less than the futuristic ammunition cartridges roped around the fortress of his shoulders. The "science-fiction" had overlapped with some sort of martial arts background, because if they were humans then they certainly didn't look it carrying such weapons, but the lack of tails threw away any theories about them being futuristic Saiyans. A Saiyan group would be more physically developed instead of just wearing sleek muscle armor, and the Saiyans would breath a lot more confidence because of such a fact, nothing like the violating calmness in this universe's pace that emerged from their intimidating technology. What could these warriors do? Were they a threat? Were they renegades of Frieza's empire? Or had they taken over Earth and become dictators, using the planet's resources to fashion their materials that earned them a place in the Multiverse tournament? "Hi!" Goku casually waved to them. "Hello." greeted one of the middle techno-warriors, a male with spiky black hair and an opened helmet. "So you guys are the fighters of Universe 19, right?" asked Uub. "Yes." the same male replied. "So what did you guys enter for? You don't like you're ready to fight in a tournament." Trunks nodded. "Yeah, you guys look like you're ready to go to a sci-fi convention." "We have our reasons for participating." "Say, are you guys Tuffles?" intruded Vegeta. They didn't answer. He wasn't sensing any power from their group, not a speck of radiation from their armors either. With a mean smirk, Vegeta continued, "-Does your silence mean I'm right? Then in your universe, the Saiyans either never existed or never discovered space travel. Maybe the Tuffles weren't as worthless there like they were in our universe. But if you are those Tuffles, none of you feel very strong. If you don't back out, the Saiyans are going to wipe out your kind all over again." They still didn't answer. Something about these armored mimes just pissed him off. "Well? Why don't you say anything!" Finally, the broad-shouldered male of Universe 19 walked up and spoke. "We don't know what these Tuffles or whatever they are of universe are. We do know of you Saiyans however. In our universe, they were a poor species that wiped itself out in the middle of its biggest cataclysm and we wiped away the charred remains in our own travels. Evidently, your people change little throughout the universes." He turned his back to Vegeta and so did his team mates, but the Prince twitched and raised his fist. Trunks stopped him, faintly suggesting that this was a "retreat" by Universe 19 and that they should just try and ignore each other for the duration of the tournament. Vegeta huffed and left to his corner of the balcony, and Goku moved next to him. "C'mon Vegeta, let's try to make friends with the other universes. This is probably the last time we'll ever get to see these other versions of ourselves, and the last time we'll get to have such great competition." "Tch, friends! You do realize that several of these universes are filled with things that have tried to KILL US in the past, right Kakarot!" "Yeah, but from what Piccolo learned from Universe 10, the Organizers of this tournament are going to close the home universe that allowed the Vargas to begin interdimensional travel in the first place." Goten explained. "So if you geezers want to have another shot at these guys, this might be your last chance." "Besides, it'll be fun to see all of these legendary battles reenacted in-person instead of in some hologram." said Trunks. His mother had created a number of battle simulations rendered in 3D based off of her experiences on Namek and with Goku and Vegeta, sometimes using clips from recordings of the Cell Games as well as King Piccolo's conquest. All of those battles though exciting were merely a bunch of pixels shaped together into fight simulator, and the power level estimations of the combatants was limited at best. Monsters like Cell and Frieza that were here were a once-in-a-lifetime encounter for Goten and himself. He once suggested that she try and sell it to a video game company, but... in retrospect, it would probably have suffered from too many sequels. oooooooo Two minutes passed and the entrance to the 20th balcony whizzed open. Everyone could hear it and they were drawn to the vessel that was being brought through the gates. The ominous shadow that lingered inside the vessel, however, distracted a great number of fighters around the stadium. The Vargas and the Nameks organizing the tournament surrounded the boulder-sized chrysalis were operating machines and devices, firing tiny lasers into the ice briefly every few seconds. Scanners and life support machines were being used to read the contained fighter's vital signs if there were any to check for at all. The giant chunk of ice depressed, and whatever was locked inside the ice appeared to be self-encased. The person inside was hunched over in slumber... That was when the entirety of Universe 18 saw him. "That's the fighter for the 20th universe!" asked Pan, apprehensive. But her fear was child-like, barely grasping the true terror that her siblings saw. Even Vegeta taciturnity shattered for a moment. In the center of that chrysalis was Broly. The Legendary Super Saiyan frozen inside a small iceberg, definitely alive. The Vargas might not have known it, judging from what Piccolo could overheard them saying as they monitored his status: "We found him frozen in the void of space. Our scanners detected an incredible amount of power emanating from this structure, so to increase the suspense of this tournament; we've decided that if he is alive when his match comes, he will participate." Images of his rage and malice, the utter contempt for life poured into their minds. Gohan, one of the few to stand up to Broly all by himself, never forgot the encounter; it was the second-closest he had ever come to death after fighting Cell and Buu. "They can't be serious!" yelled Vegeta, shaking, "After all the hell we went through getting him through the atmosphere, and here he is sleeping like a baby right in front of us! I say we charge that area and blast him to smithereens before he even gets the chance to wake up!" "No, that's no good!" rallied Goku, "You know as well as I do Vegeta that we'd be disqualified. Yes, Broly is a threat, but he's got to be weaker to us now after how much strength we've gained since the last fight we had with him and the time before that! Maybe the comet touched down a bit too early and Broly survived while we didn't... nothing says this Broly is any stronger than the last!" "You're right Goku, Goten and I even fought him as kids!" Gohan refuted Trunks. "That battle... that wasn't anything compared to when dad, Piccolo, Vegeta, and I fought him when I was still a kid." "Don't act so cool Gohan!" huffed Goten, "I fought him in the same place you did!" "Even so, if he's been frozen for 20 years in space, then his body must have deteriorated." Vegeta spoke, "Saiyan are born sturdier than humans, Trunks. "Assuming enough energy is built up, Broly may have sustained himself in space for decades. The magnitude of his power is unreal, his power just keeps growing and growing with no foreseeable limit, he could outclass us at our best in less than a minute!" It was impossible to glean how much power he had gained twenty years later. Trunks had other concerns. "How was he frozen?" Vegeta answered this by saying that were numerous worlds with extreme conditions like blizzards and nuclear winter. If Broly had escaped Comet Kumori, he could have landed on any of these worlds... and blown up just as many of them. It was best not to consider all the ways they could have lost their battles with the Legendary Super Saiyan. But Broly could have, as Piccolo theorized, built up a shield around his body and gone into hibernation only to become encased in some kind of cosmic accident. If he were the survivor of some great battle, then without a doubt he would immediately break into rage and go on slaughtering everyone in his way until the Vargas teleported him back or the other fighters slowed him down. Goku believed that this was their solution, that and because the Vargas couldn't have gotten near him if he was as colloquially deranged as before. Further suggestion came from Goten that in the event of Broly's awakening they just let the other more dangerous competitors handle him and let them wipe each other out. This all began to daze Uub, who wasn't at all accustomed to knowing that so many danger s existed around him. Sure, there were snakes and coyotes to worry about near his home, and his master had once brought him to a wasteland filled with dinosaurs and flying creatures, but more than a dozen of these teams were once archenemies of the Saiyans and their legacies. All of them were quite strong, ungainly powerful. Scary even. But Goku reassured his student that constant training made these creatures less intimidating than they once were, including the Majin Buu of U11 and older foes like Frieza, and the Androids 17 and 18, or even Cell. It was pale to see that most of them were still looking at Universe 18, uncertain or overconfident about the overwhelmingly benevolent fighters. Frieza and his family let their pride show with troops and furniture castellated around their balcony, sneering every time a Saiyan or a Human was mentioned. A sharp grin of malevolence crossed Cell's lips and he itched for the chance to crush his first opponent. The least amount of enmity belonged to the Majins despite their ilk, they were present only to gain power & dominion. The teal-skinned mercenaries around Bojack were completely unaware that their was any legitimate threat to them in any universe. A pair of teenagers whom Piccolo recognized as more sinister-looking than usual submerged themselves and their mockery. The primitive Saiyans, auras noisy and flamboyant, were content with staying quiet. The alternate Saiyans were resting and being quiet as well, occasionally swapping glances with each other. "ALL THE CHALLENGERS HAVE ARRIVED! WE HAVE RANDOMLY SELECTED THE MATCHES, MAY ALL FIGHTERS PLEASE GET READY!" All noise perished. "FIRST MATCH: NAPPA FROM UNIVERSE 13 AGAINST CARGO FROM UNIVERSE 10!" OOOOOOO